Luise Cooper

Luise Cooper (actually: Adolphine Luise Cooper) (born April 4, 1849 in Oppeln near Neuhaus / Oste; † December 1, 1931 ) was a German development worker, author and founder of the Hildesheim Mission for the Blind .

From the age of eight, Luise Cooper grew up in Borstel in the Altes Land, where her father Carl Ferdinand Cooper held a pastor's position. The often ailing girl was taught at home by her father. Inspired by the argumentative father and the stories of her English grandfather, Samuel Cooper, who had traveled the world as a doctor and merchant, she decided to make a life of missionary service .

Sister Martha Postler and Chinese girls in Hong Kong, 1900

On April 21, 1884, Luise Cooper was sent to Hong Kong by the Berlin Mission after she had previously tried unsuccessfully to go to Africa as a missionary. Their mission in China was for blind girls. Girls were seen as second-class people in China anyway; if they were also disabled, they were often killed as infants or expelled from families. Two years later, however, due to a serious illness, she had to give up this job and return to Germany. Martha Postler took over her work on site . The fate of the girls did not let go of Luise Cooper either, and from then on she campaigned for the blind girls in China in numerous writings and appeals. In 1890 she founded the women's mission association in Hildesheim . Until 1926 she was the head of the Hildesheim Blind Mission.

Louise-Cooper-Strasse in Hildesheim is named after her.

Web links

• Hildesheim Mission for the Blind

literature

• Gisela and Gerhard Schulte (eds.): Women carry half of the sky. Outstanding women in the work of the Hildesheim Blind Mission. From the life of Louise Cooper, Martha Postler and Wong Bo Oi. Ceremony for the 110th anniversary of the Hildesheim Mission for the Blind. Hildesheim 2000.

• Franziska Felsch: "Most famous Altländerin" and her mission for the blind. In: General household calendar 2012, newspaper publisher Krause, Stade, pp. 73 ff.